The Unit is implementing the Education Accountability System (EAS, Click
to View) to ensure continual improvement of candidate performance, program
quality, and Unit operations. The EAS was developed and implemented based upon
a multi-year assessment plan; and is continuously evolving based upon feedback
and collaboration among the Unit, members of the institution, and its P-12
Professional Development Schools (PDSs) since initial implementation in late
Fall 2001.

The assessment plan and the EAS are based upon national (NCATE,
INTASC principles), state (Maryland Redesign of Teacher Education,
Maryland Teacher Technology Standards [MTTS]), and specialized
professional associations (SPA), i.e., ACEI, NAEYC, NCSS,
NCTE, NCTM, NSTA, and T ESOL, standards. The goals are reflective
of our mission of developing teachers with strong
academic background (Conceptual Framework Tenet 1)
in an authentic professional development continuum (Conceptual Framework Tenet 2) with extensive field and clinical
experiences in the context of PDSs.

The EAS consists of three integrated components:

Accountability Center (AC);

Performance Assessment System (PA); and

Electronic Portfolio (EP).

The three production components of the EAS
enable the Unit to generate and evaluate both qualitative
and quantitative performance data from multiple sources,
multiple assessments with multiple indicators at each of
the five benchmarks (Click
to View):

Program Entrance Assessment;

Course and Field Experience Assessment;

Clinical Practice Assessment;

Program Exit Assessment; and,

Post Graduation Assessment.

With the innovative adaptation of advanced
technologies and the strong support from the UMBC education
community, we expect to fully implement all three production
systems by academic year of 2004-2005.